U.S., Russia agree on deal to eliminate Syria chemical weapons

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GENEVA, Switzerland – (CNN) The United States and Russia have reached a groundbreaking deal to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, the two Super powers announced Saturday. CNN reported that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stood side-by-side at the annoucement of a series of steps the Syrian government must follow. Kerry said that Syria must submit within one week a comprehensive list of its chemical weapons stockpile, and international inspectors must be on the ground no later than November.

In a statement, U.S. President Barack Obama said the framework “represents an important concrete step toward the goal of moving Syria’s chemical weapons under international control so that they may ultimately be destroyed.”

Senior U. S. State Department officials said the timeline fore action is to finalize initial inspections of declared chemical weapons sites by November; the complete destruction of production and mixing and filling equipment by November; and the elimination of all chemical weapons material by mid-2014, CNN reported.